Stop Rape in War

Every year, tens of thousands of men, women, and children endure sexual violence during and after armed conflict. According to international law, using rape as a weapon of war is a war crime. Despite this legal protection, armies in dozens of global conflicts have used rape as a tactic of war with impunity.

Ending impunity must be at the core of any systematic response to the crisis of sexual violence. Permitting perpetrators to escape punishment results in elusive justice and ineffective reparation for survivors.

The crisis of sexual violence is acute in many countries around the world, including those where the International Criminal Court is currently investigating mass atrocities. The Program on Sexual Violence in Conflict Zones at Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is currently working on improving accountability for such crimes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Kenya.

PHR launched the Program on Sexual Violence in Conflict Zones, a multi-year training and advocacy initiative in 2011, with the aim of forging coalitions among regional medical, law enforcement, and legal experts in Central and East Africa. PHR’s goal is to dramatically increase local capacity for the collection of court-admissible evidence of sexual violence to support prosecutions for these crimes.

PHR has longstanding experience in forensic investigations and advocacy to end rape in armed conflict. For more than 20 years, PHR has conducted pioneering research and advocacy on this issue, including in its landmark studies in Bosnia, Sierra Leone, and Sudan/Chad.

PHR, Nobel Peace Laureates, international advocacy organizations, and groups working at the regional and community levels have launched an international campaign to stop rape and gender violence in conflict. Help create a world without war, rape, and gender violence where women and men are equal.

This past week, PHR wrapped up a three-day roundtable discussion in Nairobi, Kenya, where we brought together 45 of our colleagues from both the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kenya to discuss successes, challenges, and new opportunities created by our innovative Program on Sexual Violence in Conflict Zones.

I remember my feelings of shock and helplessness after learning about traumatic fistula, which – in addition to its debilitating physical symptoms – leads victims to be shunned and isolated from their communities. Traumatic fistulas are common in conflict and post-conflict settings, and are often the result of violent rape coupled with deliberate damage.

This week in Strasbourg, France, the European Parliament bestows its most prestigious human rights award, the Sakharov Prize, to Dr. Denis Mukwege, who is world-renowned for the struggle to prevent rape in the war-ravaged and underdeveloped Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague said today it was withdrawing charges against President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya. The court’s prosecutor said the Kenyan government failed to cooperate during the investigation, compromising the case.

Experts from the medical, law enforcement, and justice fields from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Kenya, the United States, and other countries will discuss how these sectors can work together to help collect, document, and preserve forensic evidence of sexual violence and prosecute these cases at the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict in London.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) today found Germain Katanga of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) guilty of war crimes, but acquitted him of sexual offences in the first case that specifically involved these charges.

The United States should immediately convene a humanitarian summit with Russia and other nations in order to improve humanitarian aid in Syria; take steps to allow more Syrian refugees to resettle in the United States; and provide funding to address their health and other needs.

Susannah Sirkin, director of international policy and partnerships at PHR, attended and presented at the Assembly of States Parties to the ICC Plenary Panel Session on Cooperation and Sexual and Gender Based Crimes on December 11, 2014.

The decision by several states, including Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, and New York, to impose a mandatory quarantine on health workers – mostly volunteers – returning from the three countries in West Africa where there is a significant Ebola outbreak should be reversed.

PHR convened a Roundtable on Reparations for Survivors of Sexual Violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Washington, D.C. at Georgetown University on February 24, 2014. This report summarizes major points of discussion from this workshop.

Featured Investigation

PHR's report documents the scope and long-term impact of rape and other sexual violence experienced by women who fled attacks on their villages in Darfur and are now refugees in neighboring Chad. Read More »